58 Killed in Blast, Other Violence in Afghanistan

An explosion ripped through a bus and heavy fighting erupted between government soldiers and Taliban remnants Wednesday, leaving 58 people dead in one of the bloodiest days in Afghanistan since U.S.-led forces ousted the Islamic regime.

The bus bombing killed 15 civilians, six of them children.

In addition to 21 fighters killed in Khowst province near the Pakistani border, 20 men were killed in the southern province of Uruzgan in a feud between rival commanders, both loyal to President Hamid Karzai’s government. Also, two students died in the Afghan capital, Kabul, while making a bomb.

Officials were quick to blame Al Qaeda insurgents and Taliban loyalists for the bus explosion near Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.

Ghulam Mahauddin, a district administrator, speculated that the bomb had gone off prematurely. “Right now, we don’t think it was a suicide bomber or that it was a remote-controlled device,” he said.

Meanwhile, fighting between Afghan troops and suspected Taliban militants broke out in Shinki, an eastern village near the Pakistani frontier, said Ghafar Khan, who commands a border police battalion in the area.

The bloodied bodies of 16 insurgents were found on the battlefield. Khan said five Afghan soldiers were killed.

Also Wednesday, in Uruzgan province, district chief Haji Abdul Rahman said another commander loyal to the government, Thoran Amanullah, attacked his convoy. A firefight ensued, killing 20 of Abdul Rahman’s men.